Live on £4,000 for a year - 2009, Part 4

xnatalie81x

Good news - been to work and after i finish i do 2x 1-2-1's who are both re-booking for Jan term! and that is an additional £14 (2 thirty minute lessons) - cannot be bothered to mess around with main income so woll put it onto my 'additional income' sheet, also could stop after 6 weeks in any case but at least that is an additional £84 in January that i had not budgeted!

Dinner has been spag bol with grated cheese and home made cookies for after. Am still super hungry so had some crackers but still my bottomless pit is threatening to growl!!! Will use other half of mince pack and left over bolognese sauce to make cottage pie for tomorrow.

Pups are good. Just leaving mummy dog to it at the moment as she is doing such a fabbo job! - also got £5 back from H2B that he borrowed the other day which means i have some money for food and things . Must say his situation is looking up - it is very complicated but he is declared as Self Employed but due to recent happenings he has been unable to work. Last few days he has had a couple of jobs which has meant we will have some extra money coming in. He does not claim any benefits and we have put a small amt into his earnings for TC so he can earn it is just so difficult for him. Only prob is that most is already gone lol. MEN!

BigMummaF

nykmedia wrote: »

Good morning to all

It is freezing here, I'd to break the ice on all the water drinkers and the ducks are now dabbling in the little bit of water that's available over their frozen bath. .....
....... just opened a letter from credit card company informing me that they have increased my credit limit and that it is already available to use! :mad: Now whilst they also offer the option to change this back to it's original, it's still a little bit irresponsible to make it available automatically because I am SURE there are plenty out there that would be jumping for joy at this and instantly rush out on a spending spree. I KNOW that's the soryt of people these companies rely on and that without them, we wouldn't be able to get cashback on all our spends but it's still a bit annoying. It isn't even as though the increase is a couple of hundred pounds, either, they've increased my limit it by over £1,500! ....... found some of my 1999 challenge and was reading out the prices to SM last week over coffee. They were rather surprising figures!

I vaguely recall from --could have been a very early Blue Peter--that it's a good idea to float a ball in a goldfish pond to help prevent it freezing over. Obviously it needs to be big enough so as not to be a choking hazard to wildlife, but the act of lifting it out of the water doesn't cause so much distress to the fish. Just thought it might be an option for the framinals
So totally agree about the ccard companies :mad: I suppose last week's rulings on bank charges has given them the oomph to start up their unsavoury practises once more, but you'd have thought the past twelve months would have taught THEM something too :wall:

slowlyfading wrote: »

It went well :j :j :j ........
sf x x

Like we knew it would :T Congrats & enjoy your week-end--you've certainly worked hard enough to earn a break!

I've had a little rummage on BG@s & HERE is the page to all sorts of account options. As usual I've only had a quick glance, but initial thoughts are it looks like it may be worth further investigations.

Ches

FrankieM wrote: »

Just a question in regards to children and money...I mean no offence....but does it actually teach them anything to bail them out financially? I tend to to think that you don't fix money problems with money. Just asking, I have all this to come!

No it doesn't teach them and to my shame it certainly didn't stop me from doing it. I am now on this thread because it has caused so many problems. I think I have finally learned to say no albeit too late as it has now also caused a rift in the family. It would have been much better all round if I had been sensible and made them stand on their own two feet right from the start.

xnatalie81x

Ches wrote: »

No it doesn't teach them and to my shame it certainly didn't stop me from doing it. I am now on this thread because it has caused so many problems. I think I have finally learned to say no albeit too late as it has now also caused a rift in the family. It would have been much better all round if I had been sensible and made them stand on their own two feet right from the start.

Duly noted for future reference when my lil ones grow up x

savingfortravel

Freecycle
Poor Mr SFT has been on red alert to deliver a 13 tog duvet to a single mother whose son is sleeping under a summer one. I know people are supposed to collect but she couldn't and is going into hospital tomorrow. But despite leaving messages she hasn't even responded.
We also were due to collect some unopened bath soap but the offerer left a bag of children's clothes instead...will have to contact her later...I think she left 2 bags and the other people picked up one and Mr SFT unknowingly collected what was left.
However the good news is I am so excited as we have had 2 responses on Freecycle for old wood.
The first (confirmed) is

• I have 12 old wooden garden fence panels which have not been broken up and which I was going to burn, you can have them if you consider them suitable.

This would probably give us enough kindling for a year.
The other, which we are waiting to have confirmed is

• I have a pile of old fencing, posts etc, already broken up into 5 / 6 ft long pieces which you are more than welcome to. I was going to list it this evening, then saw your post.

This may even supply us with some 'logs' for the fire.

Yipee! :T

Congrats-SF on your assessment. Enjoy your birthday..I'm looking forward to mine on Thursday!!
sft

Blairweech

Hi folks, hugs to those that need them

Saw the most gorgeous sunrise on the way to work this morning - the ground was all crisp and frosty white, but the sky was an absolute searing red. it was amazing, did not have my camera though to take a photo

Uh, what else was I gonna say....oh yeah - the credit card. Slightly unrelated but OH gave me some very good advice yesterday. He told me to pay off my overdraft before I go to uni, and then put all my spending on a credit card, as this would make me so so so careful about what I spent money on, and he is right. Knowing I was being charged squillions of £'s in interest would definantly stop me spending recklessly.

Bought another couple of presents today, Ebay cashback has gone up to 50% on Quidco It occurred to me today that I only have 9 weeks left of actually being here, so I really had best get my finger out and sell some stuff!! I could not have picked a worse time of year for hawking my junk really, but oh well.

SFT - Am not sure you should burn fence panels, due to the wood treatment?

sophiesmum_2

Well done on the free wood sft,:T, from past experience the fence panels burn well in the MF burners, especially since they have usually been treated with creosote or preservative.Fortunately as opposed to open fires the fumes all go up the chimney.
We are curently burning our way through 11 x 14ft lengths of 6 x4 timbers from mum's garage and loft which have been cut into "logs" and also a spare box of her £50 a metre sq solid oak flooring:eek:, which she also had sawn into pieces for us.( i was gutted about this one as what she had in excess would have done for flooring our back porch didn't have the heart to tell her as she was so chuffed to have had it sawn up for us:o) It all helps to eek out the fuel though:D

savingfortravel

sophiesmum wrote: »

Well done on the free wood sft,:T, from past experience the fence panels burn well in the MF burners, especially since they have usually been treated with creosote or preservative.Fortunately as opposed to open fires the fumes all go up the chimney.
We are curently burning our way through 11 x 14ft lengths of 6 x4 timbers from mum's garage and loft which have been cut into "logs" and also a spare box of her £50 a metre sq solid oak flooring:eek:, which she also had sawn into pieces for us.( i was gutted about this one as what she had in excess would have done for flooring our back porch didn't have the heart to tell her as she was so chuffed to have had it sawn up for us:o) It all helps to eek out the fuel though:D

Sounds like you've got a lovely mother SM
Thanks for reassuring us about the fence panels although I can see your point about open fires.
sft

Brighton_belle

Blairweech wrote: »

Saw the most gorgeous sunrise on the way to work this morning - the ground was all crisp and frosty white, but the sky was an absolute searing red. it was amazing, did not have my camera though to take a photo

Blair -i think it can be good sometimes not to have a camera - then you can immerse yourself into that awe inspiring moment. Getting the camera out can distracts from that I find.
sf - well done:T:T How encouraging for you - you clearly have the makings of an excellent teacher.
Nyk - if it is any encouragement on the CC front - last week I had a letter reducing my credit limit by £1,000 as I hadn't used the card in a year.

sophiesmum_2

Good evening frunchkins:D
Just done a little online stockpiling through appr0ved foods and spent the grand total of justover £15 including delivery for some storecupboard items. Need creative ideas now with what to do with 10kgs of apricot pulp :rotfl:, think there may be a glut of apricot muffins, crumbles, pies,porridge and yoghurt toppings etc in the future Wonder if it could be made into apricot jam?
Car tax and insurance renewal time of year so the budget will be taking a big hit in the next few days,once the direct debits come out for Dec should just about leave enough spare in the budget for xmas foods, a little more stockpiling and DS birthday. I always get bought lots of chocs, biscuits, alcohol,etc by the oldies, so no need to buy that stuff for xmas anyway just the turkey, gammon etc which I will be picking up at costco again, although it will be mostly for cooking and freezing as we aren't actually having xmas dinner at xmas.OH has to work xmas eve, xmas day, boxing day etc,mum is going to friends abroad, DD is going to stay with friends, so we will be celebrating new year instead with a week in frugaldom :j which is when we will be enjoying all the goodies:D
Going for an xmas meal out with the oldies tomorrow at Oswaldtwistle Mill but that is all funded so free lunch